Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1887-09-06
BEN'S FOREIGN SERVICE.

~
Up at the hail there was a general commo-
ton. Mr.. Wesley, the owner of Wesley
Grange, had come pretty nearly to the end of
his tether. He had but lately succeeded to
the estate, and it had come to him very
heavily encountered; and now, with reduced
rents, irregularly paid, he found it impossi-
bic to go on. He had, therefore, determined
to spend couple of years on the continent,
during which time he hoped that the agri-
cultural depression would pass away.
The establishment at the hall was not a
large one by any means for country bach
elor squire, but it was larger than be could
afford to keep up under existing circum-
stances So one evening he called his SER
wants together and told them how matters
were with him. bidding them seek other stu
ations at once.
His personal servant, Ben Higgins, was not
included in the general dismissal, but was
destined to accompany his master abroad.
Ben was one of those men not unfrequently
| met with in this country-a man who could
turn his hand to most things, though he might
not be good at any. The position he held at
Wesley Grange was a cross between valet
been known to cook his masters dinner and
make his masters bed. This was during a
grousing expedition on the Welsh hills, but
the rumor of it had travelled to Wesley. Ben
was in high spirits when he was told of the
Journey in store for him.
an teach these foreigners thing OF two"
he said to the cook one night; to which she
replied "You be very careful, Mr. Ben, that
hon !,
them"
"Them." be cried; them teach me. Why,
could wallOp the lot of 'eIn, if wanted to"
"Then you mind you don't want to-" she
answered.
"Why. you know very WELL" continued
Ben, that l set your watch agoing after
James, the matchmaker, had had it a month,
| and couldn't make nothing of it; and
stopped the blue bed room chimbly smoking,
when the smoke had nearly druv you all
out of the place.
"Rubbish,' she said. "The watch only
wanted winding; and as for the chimbly, it
smoked because there was bag of straw in
it. You needn't crow over them things,
young man"
Yes, there was little ill feeling on the part
of the cook toward Ben. She had claimed
fought shy; and latterly he had been paying
a good deal of attention to Anna, the house
maid at the rectory. Either fault alone, on
Ben's part, would have made the cook some
what aggrieved toward him, but the two
combined were more than culinary flesh and
blood could stand. Thus it happened that
her tongue had an access of acerbity when
moving at Ben.
nt fI,n l,a flo,
nearly as general. The servants discussed
the situation from morning till night, and
Anna received many unpleasant jeers.
'Stick to your said the coachman; mot be.
Them sort never sticks to nothing but their
baccy. When you says goodby to Ben, you
says goodby forever, my lass"
HE can please himself" she said; "but II
he thinks 1 shall die broken hearted because
he takes on with some foreign girl, he's very
much mistook."
"That's always the way with you women
folk. You talk as big as big, and when it
comes to, you doubles up to nothing. There
was that gal o Simmond's-her as kept COM
pany with that keeper fellow Look how her
brazened it out when they found he'd left q
wife in Wales, and her died of consumption
in less than n year"
off he's not i'll earnest, no more aren't l"
Which was, perhaps, consolatory.
The time slipped rapidly by, and it wanted
but day till Ben and his master should start
for the continent. That night Ben repaired
to the rectory, and had parting interview
with Anna. His last words were: you'll
not forget me, Anna, while am parted from
yous I'm a-coming back for you some day.
Till then, no river."
"Till what?"
''That's bit of French, my dear I've
bin learning the langwidge lately. It's some
thing like 'goodby,' only more So Ho
river!' And so they parted.
In the course of few weeks Ben and his
master were comfortably settled in small
they had made their home was an old farm
house that had once belonged to a noble
family, but was now partly fallen to decay.
1t was inhabited by the present owner, who
carried on the business of a small farmer and
wine grower He had neither wife nor child,
the domestic functions being superintendent,
and in great measure performed, by a sis
ter. Naturally, therefore, it came about that
Ben and Fraulein Schmidt were often in each
others company, and. naturally, also, Ben
womanly curiosity, asked about the Herr
Wesley, Ben was careful to explain 20 her
that Herr Wesley was a great baron at
home, dwelling in mansion with marble
halls and gilded ceilings: that he, Benjamin
higgins, was the confidential companion Of
this said great baron, and that, though he
benjamin. appeared in the role of 4 servant,
he had remarkably good position among
the gentlemen of his native land. And the
Fraulein would listen with flushed cheeks and
sparkling eyes. Sometimes in the evening,
before the farmer had come home, as they
sat together by the house fireplace, Ben
would delight his listener with stories of the
wonders of London He had spent few
hours there one day while attending upon his
master, and he therefore felt competent to
describe its principal sights, and where his
knowledge failed his invention came TO the
rescue.
True, he mixed things up little. He got
the National gallery and the houses of parlia-
ment under the same roof, Westminster
Abbey and the Tower within a stones throw
of each other, while the way to the Crystal
palace was over London bridge and up the
river past Battersea park. But this made no
difference at all to his listener. Like Desde-
mona, she drank in all his descriptions:
But still the house affairs would draw her thence;
Whichever as she could with haste dispatch,
She'd come again
All this was, l fear, on Ben's part, q matter
of calculation rather than sentiment. That
he wished TO stand well, for the standing
sake, in the eyes of his landlady, goes without